


The Ambitious Woman

by BananaStrings



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Confidence, F/F, First Meetings, Leadership, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:53:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25696108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BananaStrings/pseuds/BananaStrings
Summary: Remember that hole Odin threw Hela in; well, in this world Hela threw Odin in instead.
Relationships: Hela/Mantis (Marvel)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	The Ambitious Woman

Frigga had settled into her role as Hela's queen regent. It had taken her centuries, but then Hela had expected no less from the strong will of her mother. Hela still had her spies on Asgard, as on every realm of the nine, and Frigga had hers, but that was just pragmatism. Hela had learned early the wisdom of never assuming, ever since her own father had sought to use her to gain power then destroy her.

Natasha had proved to be the right successor to Peggy as Hela's intelligence source for Midgard. Embedding in Drake's Life Foundation had given Natasha access to one of the most gossipy species in the universe, the Symbiotes. Through them she had learned of Thanos and his crusade.

It offended Hela. If she wished to cull the populations, she rode forth and she did the work. She didn’t look for petty shortcuts. It had taken her millennia to unify the realms, and he sought to undo her work in seconds. She would not be so disrespected.

She had found Thanos' escaped abductee, Gamora, finally via the Ravagers and tracked her all the way to this unsettling, rogue planet. Hela and a small crew of those Ravagers had been accepted enough as allies to land. From a short distance, she watched now as Gamora's compatriots were engaged in some kind of family reunion. Mortals had these habits of rejoicing just to see one another alive, as short as their lives were.

The old, old, old being, 'Ego', was playing along for some reason. It made Hela very suspicious, though some of that was owed to the distinct feeling of being watched very closely. She turned to see large eyes blinking from the hesitant face of a woman with petite antennae growing from her forehead like the dearest little antlers. Hela felt an immediate sympathy, as her own battlecrown had always felt her truest self.

"And, who are you?" she asked gently.

The woman inched forward from where she had been half-hiding behind a garden wall.

"I am Mantis," she said with timid eagerness.

"Hela. And, what are you doing here?"

"Ego found me when I was a larva. I am a touch empath, and Ego uses me to sleep."

Hela turned away with a snarl.

"All these women captured and held captive by men," she muttered.

Gamora and Nebula had escaped from Thanos, but behind her stood a woman abducted in infancy by Ego.

"I thought unifying the Nine Realms would satisfy my ambitions, but I would have reached so much farther if I’d known."

She was stronger now, stronger even than when Odin had betrayed her.

"I’m a captive," Mantis repeated as if just realizing this. "Even without touching, I can feel his feelings; they press, they press everywhere."

"Then, I think it’s time you had a breath of fresh air."

Hela drew a circle in the air with smoke from her fingertip. As she stepped through it, the circle became as a membrane, bulging out and surrounding her in a bubble, swirling like smoke under glass. Careful not to offer her bare hand, Hela held out her elbow for Mantis, who looked startled but stepped forward to take it and to be drawn entirely into the bubble too.

At once, they both shot up into the sky, then past, then out of sight in the black of space. Mantis gasped, then let the exhale out slowly, feeling all the pressure finally leaving her lungs. Hela huffed a laugh, gazing upward at the darkness they still sped through, well out of Ego’s orbit now.

"The universe does not cease to amaze me," Hela observed. "Imagine a being tasting fresh air for the first time in airless space."

"I feel very lucky."

Hela stopped the push and let them drift.

"Lucky?" She queried quietly, looking to Mantis now. "Perhaps, or perhaps you are strong and deserving."

"Strong and deserving?"

"Yes, I don’t think luck would be enough to bring you this."

She gestured to the membrane, and Mantis turned to view the starscape of unshielded space.

"Oh, it’s beautiful," she whispered. "Why would he want to destroy it all?"

Hela groaned in irritation behind her. Mantis whipped back around.

"I wanted to tell you, but—"

Hela held up her hand.

"It’s not you," she said drily and looked up from where she had been glaring Ego’s way. Hela lifted her chin with an anticipatory smile and flick of her brows. "Let’s go kill a god, shall we?"

All at once Mantis’s hand was on her cheek; Hela froze in surprise. Mantis was staring at her, looking equally surprised.

"You are not afraid," Mantis discovered. "You are only slightly...annoyed."

"Well, it wasn’t on my itinerary," Hela drolled.

The soft skin of her palm slid away, leaving them both quiet for a moment.

"You don’t feel small the way I feel small."

"No, I don’t," Hela agreed, turning the bubble slowly and beginning to build momentum back the way they came. "But, even if you are small," she said, glancing down from her gaze on their destination, "I still saw you."

They started to pick up speed, rushing through space.

"What will I be, when I’m not a captive?" Mantis wondered out loud.

"Wonderful," Hela laughed over Mantis’s quick-confidence in their success.

"Wonderful," Mantis repeated in delighted excitement.

Hela laughed again, and Mantis joined her in a stilted way, as though she’d never tried it before. Hela took it as a good omen.


End file.
